Monday, 15 December 2014

Burundi Business, Industrial & Investment Forum: no IP on the agenda

This blogger learns that Euroconvention Global, under the Auspices of the Government of the Republic of Burundi and in collaboration with UNIDO and the National Federal Chamber of Commerce, is running a Burundi Business, Industrial & Investment Forum on 21 and 22 January 2015 in Bujumbura, at the Hotel Lake Tanganyika. According to the conference organisers' details:

The country is becoming a stable neighbor to all regional economies and, as such, is increasingly attracting international interest thanks to the favorable policy of its Government.As Burundi is rebuilding its economy, it welcomes foreign participation and partnership in all sectors of its economy, offering new business development and unlocking investment opportunities in almost every sector. That is what this unique Forum is all about, gathering under one roof senior Government officials, International Financial Institutions, business organizations and private sector decision makers.Key topics will include:

Further structural reforms, privatizations and long term opportunities

Liberalized foreign exchange regime, prudent fiscal policy

Good governance and improved public financial management

Industrial and manufacturing potential, export

Infrastructure, transport, logistics, construction and real estate

Energy, renewable, natural resources and mining

Telecom, ICT and e-technology

Agribusiness and livestock

Kindly be advised that the sessions, presentations and debates will be held in French and in English languages, with simultaneous translation.

This is an opportunity missed, an opportunity to mention the encouraging words "intellectual property". Just over a year ago, Afro-IP's Caroline Ncube reported on Burundi's intellectual property policy, which doesn't appear to have gone beyond a draft, and sadly there doesn't seem to be much news since then. This blogger would feel more inclined to invest in Burundi's small but growing economy if he felt that IP investment was protected and that consumer confidence was strengthened by firm resistance to the importation of counterfeits.

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